Mountain Dew launches new Flamin’ Hot MTN DEW

Mountain Dew, a product of PepsiCo North America Beverages, tapped fellow PepsiCo brand, Cheetos, to launch Mountain Dew Flamin’ Hot, the first-ever beverage combining the sweet Dew with the spiciness of Cheetos.

PepsiCo’s design team was involved in the innovation effort from start to finish, working closely with the brand team on packaging, key visuals, and animated content. Sparky, the Flamin’ Hot character, underwent a modern metamorphosis to tell the flavour's origin story. The result is a suite of brand assets, including packaging and merchandise, which tell the story of how Sparky turned Mountain Dew Flamin’ Hot.

“We’re inspired by creating and building character stories that add depth to the bold Mountain Dew flavors. Looking at the history of Flamin’ Hot, we thought a lot about how Sparky had been jumping from Cheetos to other snack brands for years and how that might have become routine for the character. With a mischievous personality, it was only a matter of time before Sparky jumped to another category and MTN DEW caught his eye,” says Carl Gerhards, senior director of design at PepsiCo Beverages North America Mountain Dew, Flavors and Energy.

“This was a fun challenge from a design perspective, to bring together the iconic Mountain Dew brand with the unique Flamin’ Hot flavour and ensure we could deliver visuals, content and fashion that fans of both Dew and Flamin’ Hot would love,” he adds.

To complement the new flavor, Mountain Dew and contemporary clothing brand, Broken Promises, partnered to drop an apparel line inspired by Flamin’ Hot.